Why Biblical Authority? Series

Biblical Authority: Why is the Bible the foundation for what we believe? In the Baptist Faith and Message, where our Southern Baptist beliefs are outlined, it starts not with what we believe to be true about God, what we believe about Jesus Christ, or what we believe about the Holy Spirit. It does not begin with what we believe about salvation and not what we believe about heaven or hell. The BF&M starts off with what we believe is true about Scripture, the Holy Bible. This is significant, because everything we believe is based solely and entirely on the very words of God which is the Bible.

Let me read Article 1, "The Scriptures," from the BF&M:

The Holy Bible was written by men divinely inspired and is God's revelation of Himself to man. It is a perfect treasure of divine instruction. It has God for its author, salvation for its end, and truth, without any mixture of error, for its matter. Therefore, all Scripture is totally true and trustworthy. It reveals the principles by which God judges us, and therefore is, and will remain to the end of the world, the true center of Christian union, and the supreme standard by which all human conduct, creeds, and religious opinions should be tried. All Scripture is a testimony to Christ, who is Himself the focus of divine revelation. [1]

The Bible that we hold in our hands does not merely contain the words of God, it is all the word of God, written by men divinely inspired and directed by God. Let me make this perfectly clear, we do not worship the Bible, we worship the Author of the Bible and our salvation come through Jesus Christ, who is the focus of the Bible.

As such, we regard only Scripture as our final, ultimate base of authority and truth. Anything less than this is deficient and opens the door to every conceivable kind of theological distortion. [2]

Over the next few weeks we will be exploring Biblical authority, the sufficiency of Scripture and what it means to us. Today, we will look at the practical reasons of "Why Biblical Authority?"

2 Timothy 3:10–17

“Why Biblical Authority?” the world may and does ask. The world says, “We are a people capable of reason and making sound judgement. We do not need God, we do not need some holy book to define morality to us.”

According to the worldview of the postmodernist, since there is no absolute truth, then there must be complete tolerance of all religious truth claims. In such a pluralistic framework, the only sin that still exists is “intolerance.” It is important for evangelicals to remember that the early Christians were not martyred simply for worshiping Jesus as Lord. The rulers of the Roman Empire prided themselves on their acceptance of all religions. Then why were the Christians persecuted? The early church was perceived as dangerous because it held that Jesus alone is Lord. In pluralistic Rome, such a belief was considered to be extreme, narrow-minded, and bigoted. In a word, the early Christians were persecuted for being “intolerant.” [3]

But does man make morally good laws apart from God? What happens when man assumes he is the highest authority?

If we do not have any moral absolutes, then we cannot establish that something is wrong. Some say we establish it by common consensus. But suppose the consensus changes, as it apparently did in Nazi Germany when it was considered proper to perpetrate the tragic massacre of the holocaust. All of this results from a lack of moral absolutes. [4]

At the end of WW2, from November 1945 to October 1946, there as the Nuremburg War Crime Trials. Considered the as “the greatest trials in history” the allied forces convened a military tribunal to prosecute the military and political leadership of Nazi Germany for war crimes. The defense of most of those prosecuted was simple: We were only following lawful orders and following the laws of the nation. In other words, no laws of Germany were broken. [5]

Here we have had in recent history, a whole nation whose laws allowed for mass atrocities. But look around the world today, this is nothing new, it is happening all over the world today, often times in the name of a religion. Who sets the standards? Who determines right from wrong? If we are just cosmic accident, evolving out of some primordial slime pit, who are you to tell what is right and what is moral and just?

This is why the Bible, the Holy Scriptures are needed more today than ever. At the end of time, God will judge all in accordance to His written word. To put today’s passage into perspective, or into context so that we can properly understand and grasp the significance of what is being said we must look at the first part 2 Timothy 3.